Author: Joe Moshenska
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1529364302
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
'Making Darkness Light is an illumination' Adam Phillips 'His sympathetic yet challenging account will undoubtedly win Milton new readers - and for that a chorus of Hallelujahs' Spectator For most of us John Milton has been consigned to the dusty pantheon of English literature, a grim puritan, sightlessly dictating his great work to an amanuensis, removed from the real world in his contemplation of higher things. But dig a little deeper and you find an extraordinary and complicated human being. Revolutionary and apologist for regicide, writer of propaganda for Cromwell's regime, defender of the English people and passionate European, scholar and lover of music and the arts - Milton was all of these things and more. Making Darkness Light shows how these complexities and contradictions played out in Milton's fascination with oppositions - Heaven and Hell, light and dark, self and other - most famously in his epic poem Paradise Lost. It explores the way such brutal contrasts define us and obscure who we really are, as the author grapples with his own sense of identity and complex relationship with Milton. Retracing Milton's footsteps through seventeenth century London, Tuscany and the Marches, he vividly brings Milton's world to life and takes a fresh look at his key works and ideas around the nature of creativity, time and freedom of expression. He also illustrates the profound influence of Milton's work on writers from William Blake to Virginia Woolf, James Joyce to Jorge Luis Borges. This is a book about Milton, that also speaks to why we read and what happens when we choose over time to let another's life and words enter our own. It will change the way you think about Milton forever.
Making Darkness Light
Author: Joe Moshenska
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1541620690
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 447
Book Description
An innovative and elegant new biography of John Milton from an acclaimed Oxford professor John Milton was once essential reading for visionaries and revolutionaries, from William Blake to Ben Franklin. Now, however, he has become a literary institution—intimidating rather than inspiring. In Making Darkness Light, Oxford professor Joe Moshenska rediscovers a poet whose rich contradictions confound his monumental image. Immersing ourselves in the rhythms and textures of Milton’s world, we move from the music of his childhood home to his encounter with Galileo in Florence into his idiosyncratic belief system and his strange, electrifying imagination. Making Darkness Light will change the way we think about Milton, the place of his writings in his life, and his life in history. It is also a book about Milton’s place in our times: about our relationship with the Western canon, about why and how we read, and about what happens when we let someone else’s ideas inflect our own.
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1541620690
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 447
Book Description
An innovative and elegant new biography of John Milton from an acclaimed Oxford professor John Milton was once essential reading for visionaries and revolutionaries, from William Blake to Ben Franklin. Now, however, he has become a literary institution—intimidating rather than inspiring. In Making Darkness Light, Oxford professor Joe Moshenska rediscovers a poet whose rich contradictions confound his monumental image. Immersing ourselves in the rhythms and textures of Milton’s world, we move from the music of his childhood home to his encounter with Galileo in Florence into his idiosyncratic belief system and his strange, electrifying imagination. Making Darkness Light will change the way we think about Milton, the place of his writings in his life, and his life in history. It is also a book about Milton’s place in our times: about our relationship with the Western canon, about why and how we read, and about what happens when we let someone else’s ideas inflect our own.
John Milton
Author: Gordon Campbell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199591032
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Book Description
The first biography of Milton based on original research for 40 years, and first to take account of new thinking about 17th-century England. Milton is seen here as flawed, passionate, ruthless, and ambitious, as well as one of the most accomplished writers of the time and author of the most influential narrative poem in English.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199591032
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Book Description
The first biography of Milton based on original research for 40 years, and first to take account of new thinking about 17th-century England. Milton is seen here as flawed, passionate, ruthless, and ambitious, as well as one of the most accomplished writers of the time and author of the most influential narrative poem in English.
The Life of John Milton
Author: Barbara K. Lewalski
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470776846
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 816
Book Description
Providing a close examination of Milton's wide-ranging prose and poetry at each stage of his life, Barbara Lewalski reveals a rather different Milton from that in earlier accounts. Provides a close analysis of each of Milton's prose and poetry works. Reveals how Milton was the first writer to self consciously construct himself as an 'author'. Focuses on the development of Milton's ideas and his art.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470776846
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 816
Book Description
Providing a close examination of Milton's wide-ranging prose and poetry at each stage of his life, Barbara Lewalski reveals a rather different Milton from that in earlier accounts. Provides a close analysis of each of Milton's prose and poetry works. Reveals how Milton was the first writer to self consciously construct himself as an 'author'. Focuses on the development of Milton's ideas and his art.
Paradise Lost
Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
John Milton
Author: John T. Shawcross
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813170145
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
"Winner of the James Holly Hanford Prize given by the Milton Society of America An exporation into the mind of John Milton that probes deeper than previous biographical studies, John Shawcross's award-winning text examines the psychological underpinnings of Milton's decision to become a poet, the homoerotic dimensions of his personality, and his relationships with his father and mother. John T. Shawcross is professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky and the author and editor of many books. See other books in the series Studies in the English Renaissance.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813170145
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
"Winner of the James Holly Hanford Prize given by the Milton Society of America An exporation into the mind of John Milton that probes deeper than previous biographical studies, John Shawcross's award-winning text examines the psychological underpinnings of Milton's decision to become a poet, the homoerotic dimensions of his personality, and his relationships with his father and mother. John T. Shawcross is professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky and the author and editor of many books. See other books in the series Studies in the English Renaissance.
Poet of Revolution
Author: Nicholas McDowell
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691154694
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 506
Book Description
"This is a new account of the intellectual, literary and political development of one the central poets in the English canon. Author Nicholas McDowell follows John Milton more or less from his birth in 1608 and his education to his emergence as a polemical prose writer in the 1640s, concluding at the moment when Milton turned his pen to defending the execution of Charles I in 1649 in the closing years of the English Civil War, though several years before the onset of the poet's blindness and the composition of Paradise Lost. As the author makes explicit, this is not a book about the writing of Milton's great biblical epic; rather, it is a book about the formation of the mind that eventually would create this epic, though only after that same mind, of course, justified the killing of a king. Central to the book is Milton's evolving understanding of the ways in which 'tyranny'-defined initially in ecclesiastical and clerical terms but which grows to encompass political organization-retards the intellectual and cultural progress of a nation. McDowell demonstrates how this understanding was shaped not only by Milton's historical experience of the political turbulence of mid seventeenth-century Britain, but also by the interaction between that experience and his intellectual life. This, the author says, was Milton's period of intensive and almost entirely orthodox reading in history and religion, and it was then that he came to see any clerical encroachment upon civil authority as tyranny. His intellectual pursuits, in tandem with wider events, led him to turn to explicitly political prose writing in the defence of regicide at the beginning of 1649. This biography of the first half of the poet's life shows us how John Milton the young poet, scholar, humanist, and universalist became John Milton the puritan, republican and polemicist"--
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691154694
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 506
Book Description
"This is a new account of the intellectual, literary and political development of one the central poets in the English canon. Author Nicholas McDowell follows John Milton more or less from his birth in 1608 and his education to his emergence as a polemical prose writer in the 1640s, concluding at the moment when Milton turned his pen to defending the execution of Charles I in 1649 in the closing years of the English Civil War, though several years before the onset of the poet's blindness and the composition of Paradise Lost. As the author makes explicit, this is not a book about the writing of Milton's great biblical epic; rather, it is a book about the formation of the mind that eventually would create this epic, though only after that same mind, of course, justified the killing of a king. Central to the book is Milton's evolving understanding of the ways in which 'tyranny'-defined initially in ecclesiastical and clerical terms but which grows to encompass political organization-retards the intellectual and cultural progress of a nation. McDowell demonstrates how this understanding was shaped not only by Milton's historical experience of the political turbulence of mid seventeenth-century Britain, but also by the interaction between that experience and his intellectual life. This, the author says, was Milton's period of intensive and almost entirely orthodox reading in history and religion, and it was then that he came to see any clerical encroachment upon civil authority as tyranny. His intellectual pursuits, in tandem with wider events, led him to turn to explicitly political prose writing in the defence of regicide at the beginning of 1649. This biography of the first half of the poet's life shows us how John Milton the young poet, scholar, humanist, and universalist became John Milton the puritan, republican and polemicist"--
God's Liar
Author: Thom Satterlee
Publisher: Slant
ISBN: 1725252007
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
The year is 1665. England is in the midst of the Restoration, and John Milton, a blind, politically and religiously marginalized writer associated with Oliver Cromwell's failed attempt to form a republic, has not yet published Paradise Lost. When one of the worst plagues in history descends upon London, he and his much younger wife are forced to flee to the countryside. There Milton is befriended by the local curate, Rev. Theodore Wesson, who knows nothing about Milton's controversial past or the dangers of associating with him. Soon their fates become intertwined when the curate's hopes for advancement are threatened by his relationship to the notorious traitor and "king-killer," John Milton. The situation tests Wesson's loyalty--to the monarchy, to friendship, to a church career--while complicating his already blurry sense of God's involvement in human affairs. For Milton, the cost is potentially even greater: the target of assassination attempts since the restoration of the monarchy five years earlier, he has real reason to fear for his life. A riveting and briskly paced novel that transports the reader to a very particular place and time even as its themes resonate with our own time, Thom Satterlee's God's Liar will take its place next to works as varied as Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Colm Toibin's The Master.
Publisher: Slant
ISBN: 1725252007
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Book Description
The year is 1665. England is in the midst of the Restoration, and John Milton, a blind, politically and religiously marginalized writer associated with Oliver Cromwell's failed attempt to form a republic, has not yet published Paradise Lost. When one of the worst plagues in history descends upon London, he and his much younger wife are forced to flee to the countryside. There Milton is befriended by the local curate, Rev. Theodore Wesson, who knows nothing about Milton's controversial past or the dangers of associating with him. Soon their fates become intertwined when the curate's hopes for advancement are threatened by his relationship to the notorious traitor and "king-killer," John Milton. The situation tests Wesson's loyalty--to the monarchy, to friendship, to a church career--while complicating his already blurry sense of God's involvement in human affairs. For Milton, the cost is potentially even greater: the target of assassination attempts since the restoration of the monarchy five years earlier, he has real reason to fear for his life. A riveting and briskly paced novel that transports the reader to a very particular place and time even as its themes resonate with our own time, Thom Satterlee's God's Liar will take its place next to works as varied as Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Colm Toibin's The Master.
Woodrow Wilson
Author: John Milton Cooper, Jr.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307277909
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 738
Book Description
The first major biography of America’s twenty-eighth president in nearly two decades, from one of America’s foremost Woodrow Wilson scholars. A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove central to governance through the early twenty-first century, including the Federal Reserve system and the Clayton Antitrust Act; he guided the nation through World War I; and, although his advocacy in favor of joining the League of Nations proved unsuccessful, he nonetheless established a new way of thinking about international relations that would carry America into the United Nations era. Yet Wilson also steadfastly resisted progress for civil rights, while his attorney general launched an aggressive attack on civil liberties. Even as he reminds us of the foundational scope of Wilson’s domestic policy achievements, John Milton Cooper, Jr., reshapes our understanding of the man himself: his Wilson is warm and gracious—not at all the dour puritan of popular imagination. As the president of Princeton, his encounters with the often rancorous battles of academe prepared him for state and national politics. Just two years after he was elected governor of New Jersey, Wilson, now a leader in the progressive movement, won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to defeat Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in one of the twentieth century’s most memorable presidential elections. Ever the professor, Wilson relied on the strength of his intellectual convictions and the power of reason to win over the American people. John Milton Cooper, Jr., gives us a vigorous, lasting record of Wilson’s life and achievements. This is a long overdue, revelatory portrait of one of our most important presidents—particularly resonant now, as another president seeks to change the way government relates to the people and regulates the economy.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307277909
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 738
Book Description
The first major biography of America’s twenty-eighth president in nearly two decades, from one of America’s foremost Woodrow Wilson scholars. A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove central to governance through the early twenty-first century, including the Federal Reserve system and the Clayton Antitrust Act; he guided the nation through World War I; and, although his advocacy in favor of joining the League of Nations proved unsuccessful, he nonetheless established a new way of thinking about international relations that would carry America into the United Nations era. Yet Wilson also steadfastly resisted progress for civil rights, while his attorney general launched an aggressive attack on civil liberties. Even as he reminds us of the foundational scope of Wilson’s domestic policy achievements, John Milton Cooper, Jr., reshapes our understanding of the man himself: his Wilson is warm and gracious—not at all the dour puritan of popular imagination. As the president of Princeton, his encounters with the often rancorous battles of academe prepared him for state and national politics. Just two years after he was elected governor of New Jersey, Wilson, now a leader in the progressive movement, won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to defeat Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in one of the twentieth century’s most memorable presidential elections. Ever the professor, Wilson relied on the strength of his intellectual convictions and the power of reason to win over the American people. John Milton Cooper, Jr., gives us a vigorous, lasting record of Wilson’s life and achievements. This is a long overdue, revelatory portrait of one of our most important presidents—particularly resonant now, as another president seeks to change the way government relates to the people and regulates the economy.
Milton and the Making of Paradise Lost
Author: William Poole
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674971078
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
William Poole recounts Milton's life as England’s self-elected national poet and explains how the greatest poem of the English language came to be written. How did a blind man compose this staggeringly complex, intensely visual work? Poole explores how Milton’s life and preoccupations inform the poem itself—its structure, content, and meaning.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674971078
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
William Poole recounts Milton's life as England’s self-elected national poet and explains how the greatest poem of the English language came to be written. How did a blind man compose this staggeringly complex, intensely visual work? Poole explores how Milton’s life and preoccupations inform the poem itself—its structure, content, and meaning.
John Milton
Author: Paul Hammond
Publisher: British Academy
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
These essays lead the reader into the political and intellectual worlds within which John Milton wrote his verse and prose, and into the later worlds within which his reputation evolved and fluctuated. The illuminating and entertaining range of perspectives will appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike.
Publisher: British Academy
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
These essays lead the reader into the political and intellectual worlds within which John Milton wrote his verse and prose, and into the later worlds within which his reputation evolved and fluctuated. The illuminating and entertaining range of perspectives will appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike.